Study: The significance of light
Light is more than just illumination—it shapes our environment, influences our emotions, and enhances our well-being.
In this case study, we explore the multifaceted nature of light through the lens of two experts: Photographer Jakob Storm examines Patrone lighting and the changing interplay of light. Design historian Malene Lytken explores light’s vital role in design and its profound impact on human health, both physically and psychologically. Together, their insights illuminate the deep importance of light in our lives and spaces.
Light is special in Denmark. We have many twilight hours—long sunrises and sunsets—because the sun never stands very high in the sky. Not at all in winter, and even on Midsummer's Day, the sun is no higher than about 57 degrees above the horizon at noon. Near the equator, the transition from light to total darkness takes only one hour. In the northern hemisphere, however, it lasts all night during summer. The lower the sun is in the sky, the more atmosphere the light must travel through, which makes the light more scattered and gives the reddish, warm colours we all associate with Danish sunrises and sunsets. Our daylight is soft, graduated, and indirect 80% of the time.
There is no life without light. Nothing can grow without light. This is why spring is something truly special for us Danes, because the light returns. When sunlight flows in through the window and hits the floor or wall, something magical happens.
All indoor lighting is a simulation of daylight, and in Denmark, we thrive in the atmospheric play of light and shadow. We create islands or tableaux of light in the darkness. We like to have several light points in a room to create variation and make the space more inviting. It’s like well-composed music—here, too, it’s the pauses that make the piece. In southern countries, they often use one large lamp, placed in the centre of the room, high up in the ceiling, casting light everywhere, much like the intense midday sun. Near the equator, there are no changing seasons, so there is no adjustment of indoor lighting in relation to outdoor light, except daily when they simulate the sunset. In the North, we adjust to the seasonal fluctuations, which are almost as significant as the daily variations.
It’s only a little over 130 years ago that we didn’t have electric light in Denmark. For all those years, light came from flames. The designer Poul Henningsen was 13 years old when electric light was first turned on in his childhood home. His mother despised the light because it was too harsh and revealing, and she thought it made her look ugly. After all, we are also beautiful in the soft, warm glow of flame light. To please his mother, Henningsen began to design lamps that could create beautiful light that made people feel comfortable. Inspired by the glow of oil lamps and candles he had grown up with, he worked on reflecting light into the room using shades. He wanted to avoid the harsh transition between light and dark, so that pupils wouldn’t be shocked by sudden light. The bright filament in the light bulb had to be hidden, and its light made warmer and more golden sunrises are very golden.
PH set the bar incredibly high for Danish lamp design. During this period (from 1920), the design process was approached analytically, and the best designs were created based on human needs. When you solve the task correctly, the design becomes beautiful, was the functionalists' philosophy. People also had to learn to appreciate the beauty of simplicity—furniture without excessive ornamentation or a simple lamp instead of the large chandeliers that were the fashion at the time. Lamp design wasn’t about providing lots of light, but about providing pleasant light. PH talked about making the evening a time for rest. And I really think Danish designers are great at creating families of lamps that can be used in various ways throughout the home. A table lamp there, a floor lamp here, and a spot lamp on the wall that can be adjusted.
Spotlight lighting really took off when the consumer society boomed, and there was a need to highlight products and stage them, much like in the theatre. We’ve brought this idea into our homes, where we like to showcase the areas, furniture, and objects we love. With concentrated lighting, the play of light and shadow is created. This was something Verner Panton was particularly good at. PH once pointed out that Panton had a special instinct for lighting in spaces. He had a sense of the dark, which according to PH was one of the most valuable feelings that many modern people had unfortunately lost.
Today, our homes serve more functions than ever before. We work more and more from home, so our homes have become our offices. As a result, lamps now need to cover all the lighting needs we have throughout the day. From the moment we wake up in the morning and turn on a little light, maybe even a candle, to wake up slowly. During the day, we need bright light—an imitation of daylight—as we become more efficient in sharp light. Until the evening, when we need to relax, lower our pulse, and prepare our bodies and minds for sleep. It’s not comfortable for us to go straight from bright light to darkness; we need a transitional stage with soft, warm, reddish light—just like a sunset—to make the evening a time for rest.
In a restaurant kitchen, there’s bright, sharp light so that chefs can see everything they’re doing and avoid cutting their fingers. It’s a workshop. On the other hand, we prefer warm, muted light at home, but it’s important to have a little light on the food so we can see the colours in the dish—wrongly coloured light doesn’t make the food look as appetising.
Good lamp design meets a need, it’s adapted to a given situation and function. For instance, it might be a good idea to have wall lamps that can be dimmed or directed. The best light comes from many light sources that can be turned on as needed and according to mood. The more the better, in my opinion. If you don’t turn them all on at once, so you still maintain the spaces—and achieve that exciting interplay of light and shadow.
The right light is based on many of the old-known principles. We need light that shines down on what we need to see, but the light should also reflect off a lampshade or shine through a screen, so that some indirect light is also dispersed in the room. When a balance is created between light and dark, it’s most pleasant for us. Designers should, therefore, be attentive to allowing some light to leak from their fixtures—it creates a pleasing contrast between a glowing lamp and the dark space around it.
It’s really fascinating how much healthier we become by being in the right light. The best thing is to go outside in the morning and get natural light, which produces the happiness hormone serotonin, making us feel happier. The stress hormone cortisol is stimulated by light, especially blue light, and helps keep us awake. We also need to produce the sleep hormone melatonin, which is produced in the brain in the absence of light, to fall asleep at night. This all affects our immune system and how happy we feel. It’s a serious topic for designers to address.
Now, there is quite a bit of research on how much our circadian rhythms affect our mental well-being. For example, experiments with lighting in a maternity ward have resulted in a 44% reduction in spontaneous caesarean sections, simply because the light was adjusted to the natural circadian rhythm. I think that’s quite amazing. Light means so much to us! Just like colours do. Our whole body reacts when we enter a room with a colour we like, or dislike, for that matter. Verner Panton said that you sit better in a chair that is in a colour you love. Colours can ground you or get you going. They can seduce or repel you. And you don’t understand colours without light. Light hits the surface and reflects the colour back to us. We also love fireworks—it’s colours and light in a dark sky.
Malene Lytken is a trained designer from the art academy ENSBA in Lyon, with a Master’s degree in art and design history from the University of Copenhagen, and Ph.D. from the Royal Academy / Academy of Fine Arts' Design School. Lytken is the author of 'Danske lamper - 1920 til nu' and contributor to 'Dansk Designhistorie', which has just been published. She is also a guide at the Design Museum Denmark and lecturer.
As told to Ditlev Fejerskov
Photos by Jakob Storm